As a truck mechanic I’m not taking anything away from these bad ass truck drivers. But they never recognize the poor mechanics keeping this shit running! Great video!
@@TaigaTurf The original guys that were there building the road are a much different breed than anything you'll find today, sadly. And he's referring to now days. He's not wrong either.
@@TaigaTurf not wooden leaf springs dingus its a 4x4 in place of the coil spring and strut tower. we did this when doing tought truck events and springs break from jumps throw a log in it.
2 weeks ago came back from Alaska and had the honor to drive from Fairbanks into Arctic Circle round trip over the Dalton Highway, It was the best adventure ever. My respect for all men who built this road and keep it safe.
Drove this road in winter with my Land Rover Defender. The most amazing drive I have ever done. Coming from South Africa it was like being on another planet. It is treacherous and full concentrated is required.
@@levak8740 Ha Ha... must just say I did not see a single Toyota on the Dalton. Also the Dalton was only a very short part of the Land Rovers overall journey. We had driven all the way from the southern tip of South America to 70 degrees North where the Artic Ocean meets Alaska. It was also uninterrupted, nonstop from start to end.
This is better than any episode of ice road truckers. Unreal what them OG truckers were doing. I couldn't imagine driving through some of that stuff at that point in time... 3 miles an hour... 400 miles...😳
@@TaigaTurfwell, you’re both right actually. The actual haul road is just a smidge over 400 miles, BUT it doesn’t start until you take the Elliot up to Livengood (roughly 80 miles), so all in all the trip from Fairbanks to Deadhorse is roughly 500 miles.
And this was building a remote highway back in the 1970's. Imagine what it was like for Alaskans building the Alaska Railroad back in the late 1800's. I couldn't even imagine what that must have been like.
I spent 15 years working along there out on the road many days. I figured I drove about 200,000 miles on it and wore out a few four wheelers. Everyday it is different. One time was driving from Fairbanks to Prudhoe and it took me ten hours to get to Atigun because of snow and I only met co workers coming the other direction as everyone else was parked.. It was bad. Got over the pass, and road was like concrete,cranked up the stereo and hauled ass to Prudhoe.
I have all these old AK videos on dvd & tape a recorded myself in the early 2000's this one is one of my favorites. Back the history channel was a lot better.
I had a 42 year career in the oil industry. I can't think of any other industry on the same scale, working from the artic to in thousands of feet of water.
About 12 months ago took a load in Sprinter from Houston TX to Dead horse AK. Sub zero temps. -30. Was not bad till I hit high pass just past AC. -30 temps for next 2 days till back to Fairbanks. Then got nice and toasty warm. About -15. Made good money. But loads like that are scarce. Do not drive that road if you don't have to in winter. Very Dangerous. I was very lucky. No chains no moose. Etc. Very awe inspiring drive in daylight. Much respect for 18 wheelers that do it every day , day after day! Keep Rollin!!
Winter of 2019-2020 was exceptionally cold too!.. I've driven the entire length in winter, and it's definitely not for the faint of heart.. Particularly FInger Mountain just south of Arctic Circle and Atigun Pass and the Slope.. Unreal windchills
I'v lived in Alaska 12 years now ( helicopter mechanic) use to work on the slope ( Deadhorse ) somewhere around 2010 or so , got to -72 Farenheit ambient temperature, unreal cold without wind chill.
Never was on the Dolton , But been on the Inuvik road on the Canadiean side many times. Extremally cold in the winter. Breath taking beautiful in the summers
I'm surprised that they didn't learn from building the Alaska Highway during WWII. Sounds like they repeated some of the same mistakes made on that first attempt (such as needing to build corduroy roads over the permafrost). But then again, the old saying goes, "We do it nice because we do it twice!"
They rushed to get to the oil in 1968, foolishly.. then we're shut down by the EPA from 1970-73. In 1974 they built it properly above the permafrost.. Good observation
@@TaigaTurf indeed he did, he shared so many stories! He was writing a book but never finished it. He passed away in 2019. Im thinking of putting his unfinished book to video one day.
Those that complain about fuel usage at night, stop comparing it to what you use in the lower 48. Alaska doesn’t burn that crap fuel in winter. Even straight #1 gels. Alaska uses Arctic blend to keep the trucks running. Trucks in lower 48 use #2 at about 1.2 gal per hr at 800 rpm, #1 at about 2.4 per hr at 800. But that is about all the rpm you need to keep warm. Now in Alaska with Arctic fuel being a lower btu and running about 1700 rpm (just to keep engine temp up)fuel usage will run you anywhere from 5 gallon per hour to 9 gallon per hour. So stop comparing to things that you have no clue about, Alaska is not the lower 48.
In siberia, their winter 'diesel' is 30% jet. I have a friend that worked at the Gazprom refinery in Omsk. But essentially yes, Jet is a lower density fuel (0.70 to 0.81) and it has less btu per unit of volume.
Oh wow... that was Dr. Terrence Cole. I took his World History class, he was a professor at UAF. In fact, I may have taken his last ever history class. He was diagnosed with cancer and died maybe a year after the class was over. RIP, what a great teacher.
Thank you for posting this interesting informative video . Family first blue-collar working class people around the world deserve more respect for doing all the work.
Correct. People don’t realize that for society to survive you need blue collar workers and doctors. All these singers, actors etc are where they are because of the little people, they don’t bring anything to society, they are glorified clowns
I work for the Trans alaska pipeline and the weather is a lot more mellow compared to when this documentary came out. The coldest temperature ive had to deal with there was -60 below zero.
15:03 Sam Little, I hauled a load or two of groceries for him back in the late eighties or early nineties. Sam's probably driven four million miles or more. Hope you're well, Sam, salute!
Ice Road Truckers did bring it to a new level of notoriety.. although it was well known before that.. This documentary is made long before the show began
I used to work on the pipeline. Couple years on living in pump station fly camps and then a few more years working up in pruhdoe bay. I love cold weather. It's exciting. If you like warm weather you won't like it up there
*white people. Most other races don't have it in them to explore the world and conquer mother nature. That's why European powers in the 1800s mapped the globe and settled in extreme environments like Australia and Canada. If you look at Asians and Africans, they are a petty and local people.
Man that must be awesome and cozy. Nice ole big rig with 18 speed, CAT power, big pipes, delicious hot coffee all morning, heat cranked up. Radio on a comfy setting some good highway rock. That’s the shit man
Gonna be honest, been watching a lotta horror vids recently and figured by the video titles on this channel this was a horror series lol Interesting channel tho!
Wife and I made a winter mistake heading south and took the cassiar hwy. After 20 miles they stopped plowing and not wanting to back up for 20 miles with a 53' trailer, we sit there for 2 days waiting for a plow truck. Had a ball watching movies and caught up on some sleep. Would rather take cassiar in most conditions. The alcan is a great drive till you get to stone mountain or sheep mountain, either will breakdown experienced drivers. Flown small planes on the coast route , the alcan, the cassiar but my favorite was the trench, very remote and some great fishing in Williston lake. Took boats up the inside passage till you have to cross the gulf and on to prince Williams sound. Commercial crabbed in Wrangell, hunted the brooks range, Kodiak, the Arctic, worked in prudhoe bay 7 winters, built houses, smuggled weed out of Canada, and I could go on but sure your getting bored by now. Alaska was very good to us but they have ruined the hunting and fishing now and if you want to see it you better hurry.
The Cassiar is really narrow and twisty in spots . Love the Mt Edziza plateau there. The worst section of the Alcan is as you said, Stone Mt, to Muncho lake, almost slid off road into a frozen lake once. Near Destruction Bay, Yukon too/ Donjek River. The Trench? Are you referring to Williams Lake/ Germansen Landing?
@@TaigaTurf It is a route north out of Prince George across lake Williston and threw a long pass then connect to alcan 20 miles east Watson lake. A pretty trip
@My Name Funny enough it costs less to build (and maintain) pipelines than it does to truck oil from oil fields all over the world... then ship them overseas... less emissions too.
The real brave question and also the story I want too hear is about the maniacs that went too the north most part of Alaska without a road too look for oil without knowing if there was any!!!
It's called the Faustian spirit and it's something that's deeply embedded in the white mind. To go into the unknown and to conquer yourself and mother nature.
